O'Sullivan sweeps aside Ebdon

Ronnie O'Sullivan was a cut above Peter Ebdon as he raced through to the second round of the Betfred.com World Championship.

Sporting a new tapered haircut, having visited the barbers since building a 7-2 lead on Monday, O'Sullivan avoided the fate which befell him in 2005 against the same opponent, when Ebdon came from 8-2 behind to win their quarter-final 13-11.

This time O'Sullivan wrapped up a 10-4 victory to set up a clash with Mark Williams or Liu Chuang in the last 16.

Despite winning the China Open at the start of the month, 41-year-old Ebdon barely troubled O'Sullivan at any stage as he suffered a fourth successive first-round exit at the Crucible. O'Sullivan powered in breaks of 80 and 68 to seal his comfortable success.

Since their famous match in Sheffield seven years ago, O'Sullivan has now won five consecutive meetings with the 2002 world champion.

O'Sullivan was pleased to be through his first test, saying: "I knew it was going to be tough and I expected a tough game. That's what you get with Peter.

"You just have to be solid. I tried to take my chances and even if I missed a few balls I didn't get down on myself.

"I was just hoping that the next time I got to the table I was able to do something and get some points on the board."

Downbeat in his press conference, and certainly not drumming up his prospects of winning a fourth world title, O'Sullivan added: "It's each match at a time really, there's no point getting carried away.

"I've had a decent season, but it would be nice to win a few matches here. I'm not going to get carried away though. Even though I've not been playing great I've not been beating myself up too much if things aren't going right for me. Whatever happens now is a bonus for me. If I win, then great, but if I don't it's not the be-all and end-all. I'll just enjoy this one."